2025 Alter Ego de Palmer (Margaux)

Beautiful deep plum colour, so juicy and mouth watering, with a real energy and momentum, blueberry, cherry pit, love the powerful concentration and sense of lift through the palate, and things really grip as it opens and unfolds. 20hl/h, as with everywhere, 3.65ph, harvest September 8 to 24. 93 points

The 2025 Alter Ego is bold, juicy and super expressive right out of the gate. A wine of total pleasure and seduction, this will drink beautifully with minimal cellaring. Soft, plush contours wrap around a core of red plum, mocha, cedar, espresso and cinnamon. All the elements are so well balanced. Floral top notes and a kick of blood orange perk up the brilliant finish. This is such a classy, polished wine - an especially fine Alter Ego. The blend is 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. 94-96 points

The 2025 Alter Ego de Palmer unwinds in the glass with aromas of dark berries, plums and violets, followed by a medium- to full-bodied, fleshy and concentrated palate defined by lively acids and plenty of sweet, powdery tannin. Checking in at 13% alcohol, it`s a blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. The low yields of 20 hectoliters per hectare might shock other estates, but Palmer has become much more habituated to such numbers in recent years. 91-93 points

The 2025 Alter Ego, aged in 20% new oak for eight months then transferred into foudres, has a quite effervescent, sorbet-fresh bouquet with perfumed black cherry and cassis fruit, becoming more floral with touches of pressed violet mixed with blood orange. Real intensity. The palate is framed by supple and fluid tannins, but there is certainly backbone to this Alter Ego, with gentle but insistent grip towards the finish. It coheres beautifully in the glass, with ample length and is very refined. Lovely. 92-94 points